People in Cyprus have taken to the streets to vent their anger as the nation's crippled banks prepare to reopen later today.

Banks in the Mediterranean island nation will reopen at lunchtime on Friday (local time) after two weeks of frustration and resentment, but customers will not be allowed to take out more than 300 euros ($367), and cashing cheques will be banned.

Payments out of the country have also been severely restricted, with a maximum of 3,000 euros allowed to be taken on each trip abroad.

Depositors with more than 100,000 euros in the top two banks face losing a big chunk of their money while Cyprus agreed to major reforms to its crucial banking system, bloated with Russian money and exposed to Greek debt.

Earlier the turmoil deepened with the sacking of the chief executive of largest lender Bank of Cyprus by the governor of the central bank, reportedly on the orders of the international lenders behind the deal.

How the bailout unfolded:

March 16, 2013: Cyprus becomes the fifth nation to ask for a eurozone bailout.

March 17, 2013: The Cyprus government delay a planned emergency session of parliament. Banks remained closed.

March 19, 2013: Cypriot MPs reject the bailout terms. More than 50 per cent voted against a bank levy and 19 abstained. Cyprus turns to Russia for help and sources suggest they could approach Middle East investors.

March 20, 2013: Cyprus Central Bank announces banks would remain closed until the following week. The government rushes to create Plan B while the finance minister asks Russia for a further 5 billion euros.

March 21, 2013: The European Central Bank issued Cyprus a deadline of 25 March warning that unless an EU-IMF programme was in place it would cut off its emergency liquidity assistance.

March 22, 2013: proposals for a bank levy are returned to the table suggesting a levy of 10 per cent on deposits exceeding 100,000 euros. The Cypriot parliament backed the plan.

March 24, 2013: The country’s two biggest banks ration the amount of money savers can withdraw on a daily basis. Cyprus was warned that unless it bowed to demands it faced leaving the eurozone.

March 25, 2013: a last-minute 10-billion euro bailout was agreed. The deal will safeguard small savers, inflict heavy losses on uninsured depositors and ensure the country remains in the eurozone.

March 27, 2013: The Bank of Cyprus refuses to accept the resignation of its chairman and four other board members. People of Cyprus protest outside parliament.

March 28, 2013: Banks expected to re-open. Locals describe the mood on the streets as "like a warzone" as withdrawal limits of 300 euros are set.

Bank employees' union ETYK said staff were ready to go back to work, but warned the public not take out frustrations on them.

"We are not responsible - on the contrary, colleagues are themselves victims of criminal acts and/or omissions that led to this destruction and many are in a very tragic situation," a union statement said.

Unconfirmed reports about cash controls started emerging as night was falling, drawing people out onto the streets.

Protesters chanted "Troika out of Cyprus", substituting "Troika" for "Turkey" in a chant Greek Cypriots traditionally use to condemn the 1974 Turkish invasion.

"It's like a war. It's like a warzone. What is this? We are in Cyprus, we are in a European country and we cannot make use of our money, the money that we worked for," protester Lefki Panteli told the ABC.

"We cannot use our property. It's like the Turkish invasion. They took our money. We are not going to accept this."

Hotel worker Yiannis Iosifakis said he feared the big-spending Russian residents and tourists who propped up the Cypriot economy would leave the country in the wake of the crisis.

"Slowly, slowly, as soon as the banks open and they can take the money, they will take the money and they will go home.

"So, I'm still shaking for this and I don't know what the situation is going on tomorrow or after tomorrow."

And he predicted trouble when the banks re-open.

"Most of the people they will go the banks and they will ask for their money. If they say to them the limit is 1,000 euros, they will keep going and they will ask for the money.

"Yes [they might be violent]. They are already upset."

But a Cypriot politician says he does not expect panic on the streets when the banks reopen.

Marious Mouvrides from the ruling Democratic Rally Party, a member of Cyprus's finance committee, told RN Breakfast he thought the controls would work.

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